Kitu Gidwani

Kitu Gidwani is an Indian actress and model. She has starred in some movies as well as serials in Indian television. She became popular after a TV series, Air Hostess aired on Doordarshan in 1986, and received critical acclaimed for her roles in Dance of the Wind (1997), Deepa Mehta's Earth (1998) and Govind Nihalani's Rukhmavati Ki Haveli (1991), Kamal Haasan's Abhay and Deham (2001).

Personal life and backgroundGidwani was born in Mumbai. Her Sindhi parents migrated from Pakistan after the partition. They lived in a refugee camp in Worli. She has a brother.

She studied in Fort Convent School, Mumbai. Her post graduation days saw her interested in French and she started acting in French plays. Soon she was acting in English plays directed by Janak Toprani. She acted in some television serials and subsequently acted in a French film "Black" (1987).

She was married and has divorced since, and has vowed not to marry again.

Acting careerGidwani made her television debut in 1984 on the TV soap Trishna, and during the 1980s and '90s, gave some memorable performances in TV serials like Swabhimaan, Air Hostess and Junoon. She caught a lot of attention after her kissing scene in bed with actor Raj Zutshi in Junoon.

She recently appeared in multi-starrer Hindi serials Kaashish and Kulvadhu. In 1997, she played the role of a Hindustani classical singer, Pallavi, who struggles to get her voice back after losing her mentor/mother, in Dance of the Wind . The role won her Best Actress Award at Three Continents Festival, Nates.

In 2001, she was roped in by Wills Lifestyle, an apparel chain owned by ITC Limited, to promote Wills Sport Lifestyle brand of clothing. In 2006, she also acted in a play, Your Place or Mine by Darshan Jariwala.

She also did a play, Sock ’em With Honey, where she played a traditional Parsi woman from Pakistan, whose daughter falls in love with a Jew, prompting her first trip abroad.